A Word with You - Jan. 9, 2012

Because we have so many Native American friends in the Southwest, I was carefully watching a ravenous wildfire in eastern Arizona. You know, when you are told to evacuate, honestly you never know if you'll have a home to come back to.

And that was the situation for some First Nations (that's the Native people of Canada)...some First Nations young people who attended a Native youth conference that I spoke for in western Canada. Their homes had been in the path of these fast-spreading fires in what's called the Slave Lake area of Alberta. Because no one had been allowed back in to that fire zone yet, some of the young people who attended didn't even know if they'd have a home to go to.

Well, out of the Slave Lake disaster came a front page story that was actually more about hope than tragedy. A lady who watched as the fires moved closer and closer to her home knew that an evacuation order was coming pretty soon. And that led to a soul-searching question, "What will I take with me when I go?" She made a choice that displayed some amazing priorities. She decided she would pack her vehicle with people, not possessions.

Could it be that we've gotten so busy and even so involved in accumulating blessing at our church, at our conferences, and our Bible studies that we have walked right by the people who are facing the flames? You know, we're all called to rescue them.

Jude 23 puts it this way, "Snatch others from the fire and save them." Because, you see, everything else is eventually going to burn.